Hi,
this is a bug in the kernel module i8k.
In the module, when the file '/proc/i8k' is actualized, the bios
version comes from two different sources of information: SMM BIOS and
DMI table.
In some system, the SMM BIOS information is not available. And this
problem can be confirmed in the log at '/var/log/kern.log' with the
message
"proc/i8k has the version. The utility doesn't report it"
So, in this case, the file '/proc/i8k' is filled with information just
from the DMI table. And the content of '/proc/i8k' is complete.
The bug in the module is that i8kctl asks for information calling
'ioctl', but this call is responded just trying SMM BIOS source: in
the method 'i8k_get_bios_version'.
The easier way to solve this is to make i8kctl get information parsing
'/proc/i8k'.